One of the first times the federal government stepped in to help deal with homelessness was during the Great Depression, and did just this when they instituted the Federal Transient Service, which funded work training programs, shelters, health centers, housing, and work camps from 1933 to 1936 (Street News Service, 2010). This program was shut down in 1936 when the Roosevelt administration decided to fund Social Security (Street News Service, 2010). Later, as the National Coalition for the Homeless reports, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is one of the only major federal legislation in response to homelessness, and it’s been amended four times since its original introduction (National Coalition for the Homeless, McKinney-Vento Act, 2006).
The McKinney-Vento Act has nine different titles, each with various programs and goals, such as providing a specific definition of homelessness, authorizing various
Cited: Code of Ethics (English and Spanish). (n.d.). National Association of Social Workers. Retrieved April 19, 2011, from http://www.naswdc.org/pubs/code/code.asp Federal Definition of Homelessness. (n.d.). U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Retrieved April 20, 2011, from portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/homelessness/definition Legislative Updates. (n.d.). National Alliance to End Homelessness. Retrieved April 15, 2011, from http://www.endhomelessness.org/section/policy/legislative_updates McCarthy, M. (2005, May 31). Homelessness: Recent Statistics, Targeted Federal Programs, and Recent Legislation. CRS Report for Congress. Retrieved April 23, 2011, from www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL30442.pdf McKinney-Vento Act. (n.d.). National Coalition for the Homeless. Retrieved April 15, 2011, from www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/McKinney.pdf Olivet, J. (2010, July 7). The History of Homelessness in America, 1640-Present - Street News Service. Home - Street News Service. Retrieved April 10, 2011, from http://www.streetnewsservice.org/news/2010/july/feed-240/the-history-of-homelessness-in-america,-1640-present-.aspx The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. (n.d.). Serve Center. Retrieved April 5, 2011, from center.serve.org/nche/downloads/mv_full_text.pdf The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (n.d.). United Nations. Retrieved April 18, 2011, from http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml Why Are People Homeless?. (n.d.). National Coalition for the Homeless. Retrieved April 23, 2011, from http://www.nationalhomeless.org [ return to top ]